Kolponomos was a genus of marine bears that existed approximately 20 million years ago during the Miocene epoch.
There are two known species in the genus (Kolponomos clallamensis and Kolponomos newportensis). All specimens have been found in near-shore marine rocks. A partial
skull and jaw which was found on the Olympic Pennisula of Washington was first described in 1960 by paleontologist Ruben A Stirton as a large marine procyonid.
However, a specimen found in two pieces near Newport, Oregon, in 1969 and 1977, proved the genus was related to ancestors of bears.
Kolponomos had downturned snouts and broad, heavy molars that would have been well suited to a diet of hard-shelled marine invertebrates.
